RICK MORAN: Conservatives at CPAC Talking the Talk — But Can they Walk the Walk?

TAXES ARE FOR THE LITTLE PEOPLE: 19 state lawmakers failed to pay taxes, report says.

They just raise ’em. They don’t pay ’em.

FIRST REPORT: Okay, I sat down with the Kindle 2 last night and read Niall Ferguson’s history of money — and I had to make myself stop and go to bed. So I’d say it’s as absorbing a reading experience as an actual paper book. I find myself wishing that the screen was a bit contrastier when I look at it, but when I actually read it it’s fine.

HOW VISE-GRIPS saved a life.

FABIUS MAXIMUS: Obama Makes His First Major Policy Error.

ANN ALTHOUSE: I don’t know how even to articulate an argument that it’s constitutional to give a vote to a D.C. representative in the House. “Shredding the Constitution. It’s not just for the Bush administration anymore.”

I think the argument is, I won.

TUCKER CARLSON IS WRONG, says David Weigel.

UPDATE: Listen to Michael Barone.

THE NEXT LOGICAL STEP: Plug computers.

L.A. TIMES: More entertaining Sen. Burris news. Your political class at work! And we’re trusting these people with trillions . . . .

MERYL YOURISH: Puncturing Peretz’s Balloon: “Martin Peretz who gave his word that Barack Obama’s eloquence about Israel was sincere is now questioning that. He’s stunned. I hope that he will apologize for accusing those of us who were skeptical of President Obama’s commitment to Israel of bad faith or ignorance. . . . I can’t understand why the media hasn’t even reported on the appointment of Freeman. This is an important post and he is close to two nations that don’t necessarily have America’s best interests at heart.”

Peretz was played for a sucker, answering at least one of the “who are the rubes?” questions from last fall. He won’t be the last to make this discovery, I suspect.

ABC NEWS: Obama’s Budget: Almost $1 Trillion in New Taxes over next 10 years, Starting 2011.

OBAMA, IRAQ, and the amazing, disappearing SOFA. Somebody needs to be running a track-changes on the White House website, as stuff hits the memory hole fast.

SEN. JUDD GREGG: U.S. is facing bankruptcy. Libertarian upside: Once Treasury defaults on the debt, spending to support big government will be sharply constrained . . . .

MEGAN MCARDLE: Obama’s big-bath accounting.

Analysts have long recognized the tendency of companies who are forced to report bad news to make the news worse than they have to, piling every single thing that might go wrong into one hell of a charge-off. The logic of this is simple: if your stock is going to take a hit, make it one gigantic hit, so that you can later “surprise” everyone when aliens from the Planet Zork do not actually land, vaporize 2/3rds of your customers, and keep the rest too busy dodging laser rays to focus on purchasing your product.

Looking through Obama’s budget, I am reminded of those massive one-time-write-off festivals. Only the Obama administration has gone one better: he has actually gotten everyone to congratulate him for his breathtaking honesty.

Take the Iraq war. We were not, under any administration, going to spend as much in 2015 as we did in 2005. But by treating that spending as an ongoing cost, Obama now gets to take as much credit for reducing it as he would for closing permanent air bases in Germany, or trimming Social Security.

Not everyone is congratulating him, though . . .

DIAGRAMMING the Obama campaign.

UNDERSTANDING The Wurzelbacher effect.

RASMUSSEN: 59% Still Believe Government Is the Problem. And government seems to be doing its best to prove them right . . . .

UPDATE: Fannie Mae Loses $58.7 Billion, Puts Hand Out for More. Like I said . . . .

ANOTHER UPDATE: Related item here.

MORE: On the brink of disaster?

GOOD FOR HIM: Holder Vows To End Raids On Medical Marijuana Clubs. Leave the guns and the ganja alone — go after terrorists and crooked Congressmen and law enforcement should have plenty to do . . . .

UPDATE: Moe Lane notices a Holder quip that I had missed.

THIS IS SAD: Rocky Mountain News to go out of business as of tomorrow.

ANOTHER DAY, another Joe Biden gaffe. Nice to know that a guy who can’t track employment numbers is in charge of the stimulus.

OUCH: It’s Official: Saudi Puppet to Head NIC.

UPDATE: Reader Patrick McNiff writes:

It is kind of hard to get too exercised over his appointment as it relates to Israel in light of the following:

Barack Obama wins 77 percent of Jewish vote, exit polls show
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1034574.html

As Obamas favorite pastor might say : “The chickens are coming home to roooost”

Elections have consequences…

Yes, they do.

FIGURING OUT WHO THE RUBES WERE: Jewish Leaders Blast Clinton Over Israel Criticism. “Zuckerman, Lawmakers, Local Jews Say Secretary Of State Not The Hillary Clinton They Used To Know.” Oh, she seems about the same to me. . . .

UPDATE: Jeffrey Goldberg thinks they’re overreacting.

IF YOU’RE ATTENDING ANY OF THE TEA-PARTY PROTESTS TOMORROW, please send me pics. Preferably jpegs, no more than 600 pixels wide. Be sure to tell me which one they’re from — there are so many scheduled.

MORE STEALTH GUN-CONTROL? State Department Floating Ammo Import Ban? Not sure if this is true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.

BILL OVERRIDING D.C.’S GUN-CONTROL LAWS passed the Senate 62-36. Eric Holder’s gun-ban talk apparently helped it along.